Venus Express |
Venus Express |
Apr 12 2005, 06:56 PM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
If all goes well, Venus Express will be a major topic for discussion in this forum a year from now. Does anyone know how good the surface coverage will be from VIRTIS and VMC? My understanding is that VIRTIS will obtain low resolution multispectral maps, and that VMC will, in addition to cloud monitoring, have one channel that can see the surface, but I don't know at what resolution or at what quality. It will be nice to have some non-radar images of Venus' surface besides the Venera snapshots and the shadowy images from Earth and Galileo's NIMS.
Ted -------------------- |
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Jun 13 2013, 08:41 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 247 Joined: 17-February 07 From: ESAC, cerca Madrid, Spain. Member No.: 1743 |
The Venus Express Mission Operations Report 257, for our 89th monthly planning cycle, is now on-line.
It includes an overview of our simultaneous seasons of solar eclipses and Earth occultations, targets for the surface mapping campaign, and an explanation of how we manage orbit correction maneuvers as fuel and oxidizer tanks approach low liquid levels in zero gravity. VEX Mission Operations Report 257 (Planning Cycle 089)) -------------------- --
cndwrld@yahoo.com |
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Jul 22 2013, 09:55 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 102 Joined: 8-August 12 Member No.: 6511 |
It includes an overview of our simultaneous seasons of solar eclipses and Earth occultations, targets for the surface mapping campaign, and an explanation of how we manage orbit correction maneuvers as fuel and oxidizer tanks approach low liquid levels in zero gravity. I understand that measuring remaining levels of fuel in a spacecraft is something of a black art. That said, do we have an idea approximately how much fuel remains, and how long it's likely to last? By the way, these are great -- thank you for posting them, and please do continue. Doug M. |
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Jul 24 2013, 09:24 AM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 247 Joined: 17-February 07 From: ESAC, cerca Madrid, Spain. Member No.: 1743 |
I understand that measuring remaining levels of fuel in a spacecraft is something of a black art. That said, do we have an idea approximately how much fuel remains, and how long it's likely to last? By the way, these are great -- thank you for posting them, and please do continue. Doug M. We typically get zero feedback for the public outreach stuff, so thanks for the note. The fuel/ox level measurement is quite the black art. What we have right now is the numbers from the archaic but still prevalent method on all spacecraft: bookkeeping. Those numbers tell us that we can make it to at least December 2014 and probably a bit later. But there's enormous uncertainty in those numbers after 7 years of daily burns. The numbers from the new method are still being evaluated. And there's only been one advanced test, so we'll have one data point from that. Maybe next year we'll get more tests, and numbers. For now, that's all we've got. -------------------- --
cndwrld@yahoo.com |
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Jul 24 2013, 01:28 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 102 Joined: 8-August 12 Member No.: 6511 |
We typically get zero feedback for the public outreach stuff, so thanks for the note. You're very welcome! Seriously, I check in every couple of months and skim a bunch of these. Read like that, they're really interesting. A bit dry, but that's to be expected. They give a good picture of what it's like to actually run a spacecraft over time. QUOTE The fuel/ox level measurement is quite the black art. What we have right now is the numbers from the archaic but still prevalent method on all spacecraft: bookkeeping. Those numbers tell us that we can make it to at least December 2014 and probably a bit later. But there's enormous uncertainty in those numbers after 7 years of daily burns. The numbers from the new method are still being evaluated. And there's only been one advanced test, so we'll have one data point from that. Maybe next year we'll get more tests, and numbers. For now, that's all we've got. I assume that fuel is the limiting factor? If you had enough fuel to go to, say, 2016, there'd be nothing else that would stop you from continuing the mission? Also, according to the mission FAQ online the plan is to decommission VE with a terminal burn into the atmosphere. Is that still the plan -- and if so, wouldn't you want a reserve of fuel for that final burn? Doug M. |
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